Brew a better world

HEINEKEN continues to raise the bar on climate action as it aims to Brew a Better World...

For over 157 years, HEINEKEN has been passionate about making a positive impact on the planet. Last year HEINEKEN announced a Brew a Better World strategy for 2030, to drive progress towards a fairer and more balanced world. This includes the goal to be net zero carbon by 2040.

The company's ambitions are raising the bar on climate action, accelerating efforts to support the social agenda and driving the brands to be more ambitious in ensuring consumers around the world always have a zero-alcohol choice, while promoting moderate consumption of alcohol.

Our progress

A year on since the Brew a Better World ambitions were launched, HEINEKEN has made considerable progress in all three pillars of its strategy: environmental, social, and responsible consumption. It has implemented over 130 renewable energy projects over the past three years and in 2021, continued to scale up renewable electricity solutions across its operations. In Nigeria, the team commissioned a solar photovoltaic plant to power its Ibadan Brewery. A first in the country, it will supply approximately 800 MWh to the brewery annually. In Brazil, significant progress was made towards providing 100% clean, renewable energy to the breweries by the end of 2023.

Many of the HEINEKEN sites located in waterstressed areas have now started watershed protection programmes to balance water use in production by 2030. Projects range from innovative nature-based solutions to infrastructure investments and development. The brewer has already improved its average water usage (hl/hl) by 33% compared to 2008.

To reach the net zero carbon goals, the company plans to go beyond the walls of its breweries and act in its entire value chain. It has engaged with agriculture, packaging, and cooling suppliers to decarbonise their production and has commited to science-based targets (SBTi). In logistics, HEINEKEN has partnered with suppliers of electric trucks that are already delivering in many parts of the world.

Signs of real progress are clear but there is much more to do and time is short. The HEINEKEN team plans to continue moving ahead with urgency, in the spirit of collaboration and impact. Together, they say: "We will Brew a Better World." •